There are simply not sufficient words to express our gratitude and excitement. The construction at Casa MARKED has been completed and the transformation is truly remarkable. First, we would like to thank Más Vida church for their generosity and hard work they put to create more functional outdoor kitchen space but also, to beautify and upgrade the entire property. With fortified exterior walls, newly cemented interior ones, and a fully-operational industrial-sized kitchen, the staff is ready to start back up this week with daily feedings.
This new kitchen will immediately be going to good use as we are being welcomed back into partnerships with two schools who reached out for our continued assistance: a local elementary school in San Pedro as well as a kindergarten in a neighboring village, La Peña. These programs were piloted last school year and thanks to the diligent work of our staff and your financial support, they were huge successes. These programs provided around 2,500 meals a week to children and also, have been a foot in the door for more involvement with the directors, staff, and parents at the schools.
This first week of school, MARKED staff will be meeting with school directors, teachers, and directly with parents to discuss the feeding program as well as hear from them- what are their hopes and dreams for these schools and children? As we did last year, MARKED will continue to provide meals, help organize parent volunteers and oversee how food is handled and served. In addition to this, MARKED will also be offering incentives to school staff and students for participation, attendance, and academic improvements to place more value on education. To better support parents and teachers, MARKED will also be arranging workshops to offer practical tips and strategies, depending on what topics are requested. Our hope and prayer is that these added efforts will come together to offer a more holistic approach in supporting these communities and allow us to be more involved in their day-to-day lives.
In addition to these feedings at schools, we will of course be continuing with meals at our base, Casa MARKED. This brings our current lunch goal to 550 meals a day! As you can see, meals are a significant part of our ministry but for us, meals are more than just giving away food. They are a time to sit around a table together, a start to building new relationships or a way to deepen existing ones, a digestible method of sharing good nutritional habits, and a guide to show us how we can better serve these communities.
Thank you for your on going love and partnership in the work we do. We have said it before, and we will say it again, we wouldn’t want to do this without you!
If you are desiring to get involved maybe for the first time or increasing your monthly partnership, the door is always open and the need is there. In fact we have multiple schools on the wait list for this next school year (2022-2023). Our goal this year is to increase our daily meal intake to a little over 1,500 students which would cover the schools requesting our partnership.
1 Child = $6 USD a month.
To give: Visit MARKED.org
For more photos and updates visit us on instagram & Facebook @helloMARKED